The advent of cloud-based computing architectures has opened new possibilities for the rapid and scalable deployment of virtual Web stores, media outlets, social networking sites, and many other on-line sites or services. In general, a cloud-based architecture deploys a set of hosted resources such as processors, operating systems, software and other components that can be combined together to form virtual machines. A user or customer can request the instantiation of a virtual machine or set of machines from those resources from a central server or cloud management system to perform intended tasks, services, or applications. For example, a user may wish to set up and instantiate a virtual server from the cloud to create a storefront to market products or services on a temporary basis, for instance, to sell tickets to or merchandise for an upcoming sports or musical performance. The user can subscribe to the set of resources needed to build and run the set of instantiated virtual machines on a comparatively short-term basis, such as hours or days, for their intended application.
Typically, when a user utilizes a cloud, the user must track the software applications executed in the cloud and/or processes instantiated in the cloud. For example, the user must track the cloud processes to ensure that the correct cloud processes have been instantiated, that the cloud processes are functioning properly and/or efficiently, that the cloud is providing sufficient resources to the cloud processes, and so forth. Due in part to the user's requirements and overall usage of the cloud, the user may have many applications and/or processes instantiated in a cloud at any given instant, and the user's deployment of virtual machines, software, and other resources can change dynamically over time. In cases, the user may also utilize multiple independent host clouds to support the user's cloud deployment. That user may further instantiate and use multiple applications or other software or services inside or across multiple of those cloud boundaries, and those resources may be used or consumed by multiple or differing end-user groups in those different cloud networks.
In terms of the installation of a guest operating system in a host cloud or clouds, based upon which a set of virtual machines can be instantiated or supported, in known cloud management platforms and operating systems, the operating system itself is not configured to detect the configuration requirements of a host cloud in which it is to be installed or migrated. One host cloud may for instance require a certain type or category of file systems, or may require or operate based on a particular set of application programming interfaces (APIs). Due to the lack of operating system self-awareness and auto-installation capability, administrators wishing to configure the operating system for particular cloud resources or conditions, may need to manually specify the APIs and/or other resources or configuration data necessary to initially install, copy, and/or move or migrate the operating system in a target host cloud.
It may be desirable to provide systems and methods for a self-moving operating system installation in cloud-based network, in which a guest operating system for a cloud-based implementation can be configured with a kernel that has a native cloud-awareness and installation capability to identify the host cloud in which it is to be installed or operate, and automatically configure the kernel and other resources of the guest operating system to compatibly operate in the intended target cloud or clouds.